The present invention concerns a watch designed especially for golfers"" comfort, according to the preamble of claim 1.
The Swiss Patent No 348930 describes a watch with a two-digit aperture where the number of strokes played in a golf game is numerically displayed.
The numerical display is found to be disadvantageous, because it is not very legible, and can be confused with other data, such as the date.
The analog means preferably comprises a number of colored dots, e.g. in the immediate vicinity of the hour-circle. The number of colored dots represents the number of strokes already taken by the wearer of the watch while he attempts to lodge his ball in a given hole of the golf course. Such number is a sub-total of the golfer""s performance, the total number of strokes since the beginning of the game being the really important number.
In a particular embodiment of the invention, this important total number of strokes is displayed in an aperture, i.e. in a window similar to the known date displays. However, in this preferred embodiment the aperture can display three-digit numbers, which precludes any confusion with a date display. Both the analog means, i.e. the number of colored dots, and the three-digit display are incremented at each golf stroke.
In this embodiment of the invention, the watch comprises a rotatable bezel that allows the golfer to easily evaluate the time elapsed since the start of the game. In a known manner, the start index (e.g. a triangle) of the bezel can be set, at the beginning of the game, on the position of the minutes hand. The bezel can then preferably be marked with quarters of an hour. The start index can also be set on the hours hand, position with the bezel then also graduated in hours.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the watch is equipped with a bracelet or band with a shape allowing it to be worn on the side, or edge, of the wrist or of the forearm; this can be on the side of the ulnas bone or on the side of the radial bone.
In a further feature of the invention, the bracelet or band of the golfer""s watch according to the invention is designed to allow the golfer to affix his tee on the band. This is easily done by stitching a small pocket in the band to hold the body of the tee. This embodiment has the advantage of offering the golfer a convenient place to store the tee after each hole departure. Storing the tee also can be a reminder to update the analog means on his watch.
In a particular embodiment of the invention, the band also can accommodate a pitch lifter and/or a greens marker. Pitch lifters are of use when the golfer accidentally damages the fairway with his club. They allow raking the grass neatly back into its normal position. Greens markers are used to mark the position of the ball on the green, to avoid such ball interfering with other putting trajectories.
In a further feature of the invention, the band is very easy to take off and put on again. This embodiment has the advantage of allowing the golfer to wipe his wrist or forearm easily, particularly in the case of heat, without the watch being in the way. An example of such a band is described in CH-596793.
In a particular embodiment of the invention, the analog means and the display of the total number of strokes are incremented, after each stroke, by a single push-piece that the golfer can press. This push-piece can be located at the two-o""clock position on the watch case in the preferred embodiment.
In a particular embodiment of the invention, an additional push-piece can be pressed by the golfer to reset the sub-total to zero, as displayed by the analog means. In the case of a set of colored dots, the number of colored dots then returns to zero, all the dots of the set being reset to the same color as the dial of the watch.
This additional push-piece is typically pressed by the golfer after he succeeds in lodging his ball in a hole. The analog means is then ready to count the strokes of the following hole. This additional push-piece can conveniently be located at the ten-o""clock position.
In a further feature of the invention, the watch includes a zeroing means that resets to zero the total number of strokes as displayed in the aperture. The zeroing means is typically actuated at the end of a golf competition.
In a particular embodiment of the invention, the above zeroing means of:
a rotating crown, at the three-o""clock position, acting on the units digit of the aperture display;
a second rotating crown, at the four-o""clock position acting on the hundreds and tens digit of the aperture display.
Given the usual par of an 18-hole golf course, and the qualification range of the golfers wearing the watch according to the invention, the first and second figures can be chosen in an appropriate way. A so-called champion finish can distinguish watches with low upper limits, where the units digit will not exceed zero, thus allowing to count to a maximum of 99 strokes in a golf game. A so-called beginner""s finish will accommodate upper limits allowing several hundreds of strokes.
In a special embodiment of the invention, the strokes counters are optionally actuated, not only by the incrementing push-piece, but also by the shock created by the stroke.
The direction of the shock is predictable enough to allow the corresponding mechanism to distinguish an accidental shock on the watch itself from a successful stroke, or even an air-shot that is normally considered as a stroke.